William Elliott Morrow was born May 15, 1846 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, the third of four children of Thomas Adam Morrow and Esther Scott. When he was ten years old, the family moved to Clarke County, Iowa.

William was reared on a farm and was educated at the local common schools and at the graded school at Garden Grove, Iowa. After completing his education he began a career as a teacher, following that profession in both winter and summer until after his marriage, when he only taught during the winter terms.

On May 30, 1864, just two weeks after his eighteenth birthday, William E. Morrow enlisted as a private in Company H, 46th Iowa Infantry, a 100-days regiment. He was mustered into the service on June 10th.

The regiment was dispatched to Tennessee, where it performed duty garrisoning posts and guarding railways. About the middle of August, a portion of the regiment was engaged with the enemy at Collierville, Tennessee.

While stationed at Collierville during the first part of August, Private Morrow was among the many soldiers that contracted mumps. This resulted in the atrophy of one of his testicles and he was treated in camp by the regimental surgeon. Morrow later had to be castrated due to extreme swelling of the testicles. He was mustered out with the rest of his regiment on September 23, 1864 at Davenport, Iowa.

On October 20, 1869, William E. Morrow married Mary M. Whisler, of Clarke County, Iowa. Together they had two sons, Francis Elliot and Robert Enoch. After their marriage, the family settled on a farm, where William followed agricultural pursuits until 1873. He then moved to Osceola, Iowa and became associated with his father in the agricultural implement business. He spent a year in Colorado, but upon the death of his father in 1884, he returned to Osceola and took charge of the business.

Mrs. Mary (Whisler) Morrow died on June 21, 1911 and William remained a widower until his death. He was a member of the Masonic Order and a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). On April 11, 1919 he was known to have attended a meeting of the Clarke-Lucas Association of Shiloh Veterans, by which he was listed as a visiting veteran. William E. Morrow died at Osceola, Iowa on January 26, 1922, at the age of seventy-five, and was buried in the Maple Hill Cemetery in that town.